Shipping or storage package



United States Patent 3,346,107 SHIPPING 0R STORAGE PACKAGE. Terrill L. Nederveld, Nelfsville, Pa., assignor t0 Packaging Corporation of America, Evanston, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 571,621 3 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A package for a pair of chairs or the like arranged in inverted relation with the seat portions thereof in abutting relation and the legs-therefor extending upwardly and downwardly therefrom. The package includes three basic elements which, when assembled, provide protection for the accommodated chairs or the like and yet permit like packages to be arranged in nested relation so asto occupy a minimum of space for shipment or storage.

Heretofore, it has been the practice to package such articles in large corrugated containers. The obvious shortcoming associated with this practice is the inability of a large number of such articles to be arranged in a compact space for either storage or transporting same. A second shortcoming is the material costs involved in fabricating such containers. Lastly, the size and shape of the containers are such as to render same awkward and difiicult to handle.

A second prior method of packaging such articles has been to completely wrap the various portions thereof such as legs, seat, and back. with a heavy padded paper. The cost of the material utilized and the labor involved in carefully applying such paper to each article make this prior practice unattractive in many Ways.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a package which overcomes the shortcomings that have beset prior pack-ages and packaging methods for articles such as chairs and the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a package which aifords good protection to the accommodated articles and yet permits some portions of said articles to be observable and thus enable quick identification of such articles to be made and verified.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a package which may be readily re-used and does not require special tools or implements to assemble or disassemble the component parts thereof.

Further and additional objects will appear from the description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims.

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention a package for shipping and/or storage of a pair of chairs is provided. The chairs, when packaged, are arranged in inverted stacked relation with the seat portions thereof in face-to-face contact and with the legs thereof extending upwardly and downwardly from said seat portions. The package comprises a pair of upright members each having an open side for accommodating and substantially encompassing a corresponding side of the seat portions and the legs extending therefrom. Bandlike means is provided which interconnects the upright members at substantially mid-height, so as to form a package having a substantially block H configuration.

For a more complete understanding of this invention reference should be made to the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective top view of the improved package and showing the accommodated chairs in inverted stacked relation;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but showing the various component parts of the package in assembled relatior'i with the stacked chairs; and

3,346,107 Patented Oct. 10, 1967 FIG. 3 is a fragmentary diagrammatic end view of a plurality of improved packages in compact arrangement for storage or shipment.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, an improved package 10 is shown which is adapted to accommodate a pair of articles such as chairs 11 and 12 arranged in inverted stacked relation. The chairs in this instance are of like construction and therefore only one thereof will be described. Corresponding parts of the chairs will be identified by the numeral 11 or 12 followed by the same letter.

The chair I I is preferably an armless style and includes a seat portion 1 1a, an upright back portion 11b, and front and back legs 11c and 11d, respectively, depending from the seat portion. The illustrated-chair 11 may, if desired, have upholstered seat and back portions and may be particularly suitable for use at dining tables or the like. The back portion 1 1]) may extend straight up, as shown, or be inclined rearwardly, and the legs, in turn, may depend directly downwardly, as shown, or have a slight outward flare if desired.

Once the chairs 11 and 12 have been arranged as shown in FIG. 1 they are ready to be accommodated by the package 10. Package 10 comprises a pair of shallow traylike members 13 and 14 which in the illustrated embodiment are of like construction in view of the particular chairs being packaged.

Each member 13 or 14, is of a simple rectangular traylike configuration and has the closed side, or base, 13a or 14a thereof disposed outwardly and upright. Each member rests on one of the narrow side walls 13b or 14b which is adapted to subtend the depending rear legs 11d in one instance or the front legs 11c and depending back portion 12b in the other instance.

All of the side walls 13b, 0, d and e or 14b, 0, d, and e in the illustrated embodiment project to the same extent with regard to the base portion 13a or 14a and thereby enable all the chair legs and back portion disposed to one side of the seat portions to be completely disposed within the member interior. The shape and size of the members 13 and 14 will depend in large measure on the exterior configuration of the accommodated chairs.

It is important for reasons to be discussed hereinafter that a substantial space 15 to be formed between the opposed open sides of the members 13 and 14 when they are assembled with the accommodated product, as shown in FIG. 2. After the members have been positioned in parallel spaced upright position, as seen in FIG. 2, a bandlike element 16, made of corrugated fibreboard, is slid endwise downwardly relative to the members 13 and 14 until it reaches approximately midheight of the package 10. At this point, element 16 is aligned with the seat portions 11a and 12a of the chairs. The element 16 may be stapled, glued, or otherwise secured in its proper position with respect to the members 13 and 14.

The dimensions of element 16 are such that it will snugly embrace the exterior of members 13 and 14 and portions of the accommodated chairs and thereby prevent relative movement of the chairs within the members 13 and 14. The width or height of the element 16, when in place, should be such that it is equal to, or slightly greater than, the combined thicknesses of the seat portions 11:: and 12a.

FIG. 3 shows in a diagrammatic manner how a plurality of packages 10 could be arranged in compact relation for either shipping or storage. To aid in identifying the various packages comprising the compact unit 17, various cross-hatching designs have been employed.

It is to be noted that the cross-hatching is intended for this purpose alone and is not intended to represent sectional views of the packages.

It has been found for a given size and shape package 10, such as shown, that there is approximately a 30% J increase in the number of chairs that can be handled in the loading space of a conventional trailer truck used in the handling of such articles. In the illustrated unit 17, it will be noted that the space 15 of a package 10 is dimensioned to receive the lower portions of the members of the packages disposed directly thereabove, when said lower portions are arranged in abutting side-by-side relation. To assist in understanding FIG. 3 the lowermost row of packages are designated A and the succeeding rows designated B and C respectively. The corresponding packages of rows A and C are in vertical alignment, while the corresponding packages of row B are laterally or horizontally displaced an amount equal to the width of the member side wall. The result of such an arrangement is that one row of unit 17 is in substantial interlocking relation with the rows of packages disposed immediately above and below.

The members 13 and 14 may be formed from blanks of conventional design and of inexpensive corrugated material. Furthermore, members 13 and 14 may remain in collapsed form until the time of use or reuse at which time they may be readily set up manually. When members 13 and 14 are in collapsed condition a large number thereof may be stacked one upon another and thus occupy a minimum amount of space.

The package 10 has heretofore been described with regard to chairs, however, it is not to be limited thereto as it may be effectively used with other articles such as tables, stools, etc.

Thus, it will be seen that an improved package has been devised which is particularly suitable for accommodating a plurality of chairs when the latter are dispose-d in inverted stacked relation. The improved package is a simple and inexpensive structure and permits greater usage of a loading space. No special tools or special talent is required to practice the claimed invention.

While a particular embodiment of this invention has been described above, further modifications may be made thereto and it is contemplated, therefore, by the appended claims, to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A shipping package comprising a pair of articles, each article having a substantially horizontal seat portion and pairs of legs substantially symmetrically arranged about the margin of said seat portion and depending therefrom, the pair of articles arranged in inverted stacked relation with the seat portions thereof in abutting face-toface contact and the legs thereof extending upwardly and downwardly; a pair of elongated traylike members arranged in upright substantially encompassing relation with respect to opposed sides of said stacked articles, each side being formed by pairs of said upwardly and downwardly extending legs, the open sides of said traylike members being arranged in opposed spaced relation, the spacing between said traylike member open sides being interrupted only by the abutting seat portions, and a foldable bandlike element slidable endwise of the traylike members and accommodated stacked articles into snug encompassing relation therewith, said bandlike element being disposed in registered relation with respect to the periphery of said abutting seat portions.

2. The shipping package of claim 1 wherein said traylike members and said bandlike element are formed of corrugated fibreboard material.

3. The shipping package of claim 1 wherein each of the traylike members includes a bottom panel and side walls delimiting same, said panel and side walls being sized relative to the upwardly and downwardly extending legs of the stacked articles so as to conceal the exterior surfaces of said stacked article legs when in accommodating relation therewith.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,212,310 8/ 1940 Wokosin 206-46 2,527,819 10/1950 Janney 20665 2,611,526 9/1952 George 229--14 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Examiner. 

1. A SHIPPINGR PACKAGE COMPRISING A PAIR OF ARTICLES, EACH ARTICLE HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL SEAT PORTION AND PAIRS OF LEGS SUBSTANTIALLY SYMMETRICALLY ARRANGED ABOUT THE MARGIN OF SAID SEAT PORTION AND DEPENDING THEREFROM, THE PAIR OF ARTICLES ARRANGED IN INVERTED STACKED RELATION WITH THE SEAT PORTIONS THEREOF IN ABUTTING FACE-TOFACE CONTACT AND THE LEGS THEREOF EXTENDING UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY; A PAIR OF ELONGATED TRAYLIKE MEMBERS ARRANGED IN UPRIGHT SUBSTANTIALLY ENCOMPASSING RELATION WITH RESPECT TO OPPOSED SIDES OF SAID STACKED ARTICLED, EACH SIDE BEING FORMED BY PAIRS OF SAID UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING LEGS, THE OPEN SIDES TRAYLIKE MEMBERS BEING ARRANGED IN OPPOSED SPACED RELATION, THE SPACING BETWEEN SAID TRAYLIKE MEMBER OPEN SIDES BEING INTERRUPTED ONLY BY THE ABUTTING SEAT PORTIONS, AND A FOLDABLE BANDLIKE ELEMENT SLIDABLE ENDWISE OF THE TRAYLIKE MEMBERS AND ACCOMODATED STACKED ARTICLES INTO SNUG ENCOMPASSING RELATION THEREWITH, SAID BANDLIKE ELEMENT BEING DISPOSED IN REGISTERED RELATION WITH RESPECT TO THE PERIPHERY OF SAID ABUTTING SEAT PORTIONS. 